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77. Dream House as Man vs. Self
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in In the Dream House, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Queer Visibility
Christianity and Shame
Abuse, Trauma, and Healing
Storytelling, Responsibility, and Freedom
Summary
Analysis
Back in the timeline of the relationship, it’s winter, and Machado goes to Brooklyn with the woman from the Dream House. At the Brooklyn Museum, she sees an artwork called Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) by Félix González-Torres which consists of a pile of wrapped candy the same weight as the artist’s lover as he died of AIDS. Each viewer takes a piece of candy and every so often, the pile is replenished, as it has been since 1991.
This is one of the first times Machado encounters a piece of art telling the story of a queer relationship. It’s a sculpture that demonstrates the devastation of the AIDS epidemic on the queer community especially, but also the extent of a lover’s devotion to their dying partner.
Themes
Machado senses the sculpture’s rage and grief. As she takes a candy, the woman from the Dream House, who hasn’t read the artwork’s description, starts hissing angrily into her ear. From the outside, it looks like the woman might be kissing Machado. Machado keeps sucking the candy as the woman goes on telling her she’s “worse than the worst.”
The extreme difference between what’s actually happening between Machado and the woman in this moment, and the apparent loving exchange between them from an outsider’s perspective, emphasizes how imperceptible psychological abuse can be—and how difficult it is to prove.
Themes
